Does a Florida General Contractor Need a Separate Trade License?

Fla. Stat. 489.113(3) requires a licensed contractor to subcontract all electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, swimming pool, and air-conditioning work unless that contractor holds a state certificate or registration in the respective trade category. The subsection then sets out seven lettered exceptions, (a) through (g), quoted in full below, and two further provisions qualify the duty.

What Fla. Stat. 489.113(3) requires a licensed contractor to subcontract

One sentence of duty, a colon, then seven lettered exceptions, quoted unabridged because several close with limiting words a summary would drop.

A contractor shall subcontract all electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, swimming pool, and air-conditioning work, unless such contractor holds a state certificate or registration in the respective trade category, however:

(a) A general, building, or residential contractor, except as otherwise provided in this part, shall be responsible for any construction or alteration of a structural component of a building or structure, and any certified general contractor or certified underground utility and excavation contractor may perform clearing and grubbing, grading, excavation, and other site work for any construction project in the state. Any certified building contractor or certified residential contractor may perform clearing and grubbing, grading, excavation, and other site work for any construction project in this state, limited to the lot on which any specific building is located.

(b) A general, building, or residential contractor shall not be required to subcontract the installation, or repair made under warranty, of wood shingles, wood shakes, or asphalt or fiberglass shingle roofing materials on a new building of his or her own construction.

(c) A general contractor shall not be required to subcontract structural swimming pool work. All other swimming pool work shall be subcontracted to an appropriately licensed certified or registered swimming pool contractor.

(d) A general contractor shall not be required to subcontract the construction of a main sanitary sewer collection system, storm collection system, or water distribution system, not including the continuation of utility lines from the mains to the buildings, and may perform any of the services, on public or private property, for which a license as an underground utility and excavation contractor is required under this part.

(e) A general contractor shall not be required to subcontract the continuation of utility lines from the mains in mobile home parks, and such continuations are to be considered a part of the main sewer collection and main water distribution systems.

(f) A solar contractor shall not be required to subcontract minor, as defined by board rule, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, or roofing work so long as that work is within the scope of the license held by the solar contractor and where such work exclusively pertains to the installation of residential solar energy equipment as defined by rules of the board adopted in conjunction with the Electrical Contracting Licensing Board.

(g) No general, building, or residential contractor certified after 1973 shall act as, hold himself or herself out to be, or advertise himself or herself to be a roofing contractor unless he or she is certified or registered as a roofing contractor.

Quoted from Fla. Stat. 489.113(3).

The seven trades the statute reserves

The duty sentence names seven trades: electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, swimming pool, and air-conditioning. That list is the statute’s own, and it does not describe the set of pages on this site. Two of the seven fall outside it — electrical, which is not a Fla. Stat. 489.105(3) category at all, and sheet metal, which is a category but has no page of its own here.

Reserved trade	Category	Covered here
Electrical	No Fla. Stat. 489.105(3) category — ch. 489 Part II	No — a separate board and a separate application
Mechanical	Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(i)	the mechanical contractor class
Plumbing	Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(m)	the plumbing contractor class scope
Roofing	Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(e)	the roofing contractor certification
Sheet metal	Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(d)	No page of its own — one of the Division II specialty and trade classes
Swimming pool	Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(j)–(l)	the pool and spa contractor classes
Air-conditioning	Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(f)–(h)	the three air-conditioning license classes, which are three classes rather than one

Electrical contracting is regulated under ch. 489 Part II rather than Part I: Fla. Stat. 489.505(12) defines “electrical contractor,” and Part II is administered by the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board, created by Fla. Stat. 489.507(1), rather than by the CILB. On the Division I side of that boundary, see what a building contractor may build, how the license classes divide, and the Florida general contractor licensing overview.

Each exception closes with its own limiting words

An exception read to its last word is narrower than its opening clause. Exception (b) does not stop at shingles; it ends “on a new building of his or her own construction.” Exception (c) reaches only “structural swimming pool work,” and its second sentence provides that “All other swimming pool work shall be subcontracted to an appropriately licensed certified or registered swimming pool contractor.” The certifications and registrations that sentence points to are the pool and spa contractor classes. Exception (f) runs to a solar contractor and to work that is “minor, as defined by board rule” — the board’s rules, not the statute, fix that boundary, and this page does not state it. Exception (g) is a restriction rather than a permission: “No general, building, or residential contractor certified after 1973 shall act as, hold himself or herself out to be, or advertise himself or herself to be a roofing contractor unless he or she is certified or registered as a roofing contractor.” What that certification or registration itself covers is the subject of the roofing contractor certification.

Two provisions that qualify the duty

Fla. Stat. 489.113(2) provides that “a subcontractor who is not certified or registered may perform construction work under the supervision of a person who is certified or registered, provided that the work is within the scope of the supervising contractor’s license, the supervising contractor is responsible for the work, and the subcontractor being supervised is not engaged in construction work that would require a license as a contractor under any of the categories listed in s. 489.105(3)(d)-(o). This subsection does not affect the application of any local construction licensing ordinances.”

Fla. Stat. 489.117(4)(d) addresses supervised work on single-family residences:

Any person who is not required to obtain registration or certification pursuant to s. 489.105(3)(d)-(o) may perform contracting services for the construction, remodeling, repair, or improvement of single-family residences, including a townhouse as defined in the Florida Building Code, without obtaining a local license if such person is under the supervision of a certified or registered general, building, or residential contractor. As used in this paragraph, supervision shall not be deemed to require the existence of a direct contract between the certified or registered general, building, or residential contractor and the person performing the specialty contracting services.

Quoted from Fla. Stat. 489.113(2) and Fla. Stat. 489.117(4)(d).

Fla. Stat. 489.117(4)(e) makes parallel provision for supervised pool and spa work under 489.105(3)(j), (k) and (l). Whether a particular arrangement meets those conditions is for DBPR, the board and the local authority to determine.

Common questions

Does a Florida general contractor need a plumbing license?

Only to perform the work itself. Fla. Stat. 489.113(3) names plumbing among the trades a contractor shall subcontract absent a state certificate or registration in the respective trade category. Exception (d) reaches main sewer, storm and water systems “not including the continuation of utility lines from the mains to the buildings”; exception (f) names plumbing but runs to a solar contractor. The category a contractor would hold instead is defined at 489.105(3)(m) and described under the plumbing contractor class scope.

Can a general contractor install the roof on a building it is constructing?

Fla. Stat. 489.113(3)(b) provides that a general, building, or residential contractor “shall not be required to subcontract the installation, or repair made under warranty, of wood shingles, wood shakes, or asphalt or fiberglass shingle roofing materials on a new building of his or her own construction.” Those closing words limit it, and 489.113(3)(g) separately addresses holding out as a roofing contractor.

Is underground utility work on the reserved list?

Fla. Stat. 489.113(3)‘s duty sentence does not name underground utility and excavation work, and 489.113(3)(d) provides that a general contractor “may perform any of the services, on public or private property, for which a license as an underground utility and excavation contractor is required under this part.” That permission, and the rule limits drawn around it, are covered under the underground utility and excavation class.

This page quotes Fla. Stat. 489.113 and 489.117; general information, not legal advice.